Hello, new here. Just bought a Pop-Up have a few questions.

[JoshuaH]

Hello everyone, just joined. Last week my wife and I bought a 2004 Flagstaff 176 LTD. I've been looking over the FAQ section but I have a few specific questions.

We plan on taking some road trips with the camper, where can I find lists of campsites that are available to pull off the road and camp for the night? Obviously it will take a bit more planning for our trips as we were used to just driving until we were tired and looked for a hotel.

We plan on cooking as much as possible in our camper, my wife has a gluten allergy so it makes eating out a challenge (one of the reasons we got the camper so we can cook our own food on trips). It came with a 2 burner cook stove, but I've been looking at some of the small portable stoves with ovens. It would have to be a small one as this is a very small camper. Has anyone tried one of these? How well do they work? Any recommendations on a particular brand/model? Seems like having an oven as well as 2 burners would really expand what could be cooked in the camper.

The camper came with a 20lb. propane tank. I know it is impossible to give an exact answer to a question like this but about how much run time can I expect to get when running the refrigerator and cooking a few meals a day from the tank? And what about in winter, when using the furnace as well. I want to do some camping in more remote locations without hookups in the winter. Will one tank last a long weekend using propane for the furnace, refrigerator, and cooking?

Any other tips or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

[bikendan]

JoshuaH wrote:

bikendan wrote:


by using Popup Gizmos and Reflectix or PUG's Solar Liners, you can make the tent ends much warmer in colder weather or cooler in hot weather.

OK Those sound interesting, what exactly are those?

Google is your best friend:

https://www.google.com/search?q=popup+gizmos&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=&o...

[JoshuaH]

bikendan wrote:


by using Popup Gizmos and Reflectix or PUG's Solar Liners, you can make the tent ends much warmer in colder weather or cooler in hot weather.

OK Those sound interesting, what exactly are those?

[bikendan]

JoshuaH wrote:

DarthMuffin wrote:


Although from experience a heater in a popup is almost futile. Makes a great hand and foot warmer and might warm it up a couple of degrees to take the edge off, but it'll never be shirtsleeves in freezing weather.

That was something I was wondering about. Figure the tent walls can't be too much for insulation.

by using Popup Gizmos and Reflectix or PUG's Solar Liners, you can make the tent ends much warmer in colder weather or cooler in hot weather.

[rfryer]

JoshuaH wrote:

DarthMuffin wrote:


Although from experience a heater in a popup is almost futile. Makes a great hand and foot warmer and might warm it up a couple of degrees to take the edge off, but it'll never be shirtsleeves in freezing weather.

That was something I was wondering about. Figure the tent walls can't be too much for insulation.

You'd be surprised, it can stay warm as long as the heats running. I slept in a down bag and wore wool and down clothes. While I didn't use the furnace, my heat was the Coleman stove when I cooked breakfast and dinner. I'd get up in the morning and light the stove. In a few minutes it got pretty warm in there, almost too warm. But of course when I shut the stove off it didn't hold the heat very long. But then I was leaving and it didn't matter. If I'd stayed in the PU it would have gotten cold pretty quickly.

I once ran into a retired Marine hunting and he invited me to his tent for some coffee. He had put down a pad, then the wall tent on top, then a pad on the inside. And he had a catalytic heater. It was so hot in the tent I had to go outside to drink my coffee. The point being, canvas can be as warm as any RV with insulation.But it can't hold the heat and takes a relatively constant supply to do that.

[JoshuaH]

DarthMuffin wrote:


Although from experience a heater in a popup is almost futile. Makes a great hand and foot warmer and might warm it up a couple of degrees to take the edge off, but it'll never be shirtsleeves in freezing weather.

That was something I was wondering about. Figure the tent walls can't be too much for insulation.

[Harvey51]

We used a popup for about 20 years. We loved the night sounds of wildlife. I remember hearing a family of raccoons rattling the stuff on our picnic table early in the morning and all of us watching them through the window screen. The downside was hearing parties, generators and vehicles.

One propane bottle a season - and we camped for weeks. Only ran out when I was too cheap to refill in the spring. No fridge. DW baked stuff in an improvised Dutch oven over the campfire.

No battery in the trailer most of those years - just a cord to the engine battery. We could have lights or heater. Only killed the battery a couple of times.

[DarthMuffin]

A couple of my favorite campground locators:
http://www.epgsoft.com/CampgroundMap/
http://www.ultimatecampgrounds.com/uc/index.php

No experience with the ovens, but make sure you use them outside due to both carbon monoxide and fire danger.

Regarding propane, you should get at least 2 weeks, maybe a month on just cooking and the fridge. Using the furnace would cut that down to just a few days, a week on the outside, depending on how much you use it. The furnace fan will also be your #1 electricity draw if you're on battery, so watch that. If you can find a campground with electrical service, get a small electric box heater and use it.

Although from experience a heater in a popup is almost futile. Makes a great hand and foot warmer and might warm it up a couple of degrees to take the edge off, but it'll never be shirtsleeves in freezing weather.

[Kit_Carson]

I highly recommend a roaster oven. We have 2 that we use...one large one and one small one. You can cook anything in them you can in the oven in the trailer. We use ours outside so as not to heat up the motorhome and it is electric so we are using the campground electricity instead of our propane. Think about it....happy travels and enjoy the PUP

[wa8yxm]

By the way when I had a PUP, I do not think I ever re-filled a propane bottle (Several years) and then I upgraded to a small trailer.. I think I refilled a bottle one time (More years) I fill the motor home (100 pounder) about 3 times a year. Normally, may cut that down to 2 since wife died. She wasted propane.

Last fill was thanksgiving.

Batteries.. Many Pups come with a single 24 Marine/Deep cycle. if you can find a true Deep Cycle thats better. or if you wish you can upgrade to a pair of golf car six volt in series,, These (when installed) become one BIG 12 volt deep cycle battery, they should fit in the same "Space" as the 24 (Well two batteies so twice teh space) but they are a bit taller..

Group 24 is about 72 amp hours You can safely use 1/4 to 1/3
GC-2 pair, 215 to 230 amp hours and you can safely use half

Discharge more than that and the battery ages real real fast.

Doing this WILL, however, add to your tong (hitch) weight.

[ryanw821]

JoshuaH wrote:

ryanw821 wrote:

Our Libby has a different trans than the gas ones since its a diesel, but either one will benefit from a transmission cooler if you are towing (if you have FACTORY towing package you should have one). It shouldn't cost much to have one added if you don't, If you are handy you can get a kit and DIY it for under $50.

Yea ours is the 3.7 gas with the auto trans. Is yours the diesel with the manual? I much prefer a manual transmission in any vehicle, but my wife certainly does NOT. Ours has the factory transmission cooler, with this option it is rated to tow 5000lbs, but I probably wouldn't want to do that over a long distance.

The diesel (in the US anyways) was only offered with an automatic, I have heard rumors its the same one they put behind the hemi V8's, but honestly haven't checked into it much to see if that's right.
No way the wife would have it as her daily driver if it was a stick 😉

[GoPackGo]

When you build that bottle holder, make sure that the bottom is open like your current one. It's a safety thing. Propane is heavier then air, so it falls. If you ever had some kind of a leak at the bottle/hose line connection (even a momentary one), you would want the gas to fall out the bottom of the mount and not collect inside it.

I'm sure it would fine as long as there are large 'drainage' holes in the box or holder that is fabricated.

Tim

[jaycocamprs]

JoshuaH wrote:
Thanks everyone, I appreciate the good advice. I plan on camping in areas that don't have any hookups from time to time, that is why I was looking at the gas oven.

Learn to cook with a dutch oven. You can make lot of things that you bake.

[JoshuaH]

ryanw821 wrote:

Our Libby has a different trans than the gas ones since its a diesel, but either one will benefit from a transmission cooler if you are towing (if you have FACTORY towing package you should have one). It shouldn't cost much to have one added if you don't, If you are handy you can get a kit and DIY it for under $50.

Yea ours is the 3.7 gas with the auto trans. Is yours the diesel with the manual? I much prefer a manual transmission in any vehicle, but my wife certainly does NOT. Ours has the factory transmission cooler, with this option it is rated to tow 5000lbs, but I probably wouldn't want to do that over a long distance.

[ryanw821]

JoshuaH wrote:
I have a friend who is a professional welder, so making something up shouldn't be a problem. I didn't know if there were any DOT regulations as to transporting bottles, had to be DOT approved or something (Did I mention I was totally new to all of this 🙂 )

Yea the Liberty is surprisingly good at towing, more than enough power from the engine. I think the tranny is probably the weak point in it though. I've pulled many loads of firewood with it.

Thanks everyone, this is great info, really enjoying hearing from everyone.

I know the bottles have to be DOT approved, didn't think the mounts did though, could be wrong, maybe someone else knows and can chime in.

Our Libby has a different trans than the gas ones since its a diesel, but either one will benefit from a transmission cooler if you are towing (if you have FACTORY towing package you should have one). It shouldn't cost much to have one added if you don't, If you are handy you can get a kit and DIY it for under $50.